Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan says that it has no cases of the coronavirus

MARCH 26 (The Bulletin) — Like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan has not reported any cases of the coronavirus. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has also been talking up the healing properties of various plants.

Even so, the authorities in Turkmenistan, regarded as one of the most isolated countries in the world, have imposed major travel restrictions into Ashgabat. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have also said that food prices are rising in the city.

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— This story was first published in issue 440 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Korea’s Hyundai signs deal to supply buses to Turkmenistan

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MARCH 15 (The Bulletin) — Korea’s Hyundai signed a $60m deal to supply Turkmenistan with buses. The deal for an unspecified number of buses follows on from previous deals between Hyundai and Turkmenistan. In 2016 it signed a $66m deal to supply 500 buses. The new buses will be supplied by Dec. 12.

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— This story was first published in issue 440 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Berdymukhamedov travels to Baku to discuss east-west corridor

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MARCH 12 (The Bulletin) — On a trip to Baku, Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev discussed expanding the neighbours’ bilateral trade ties. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan see themselves as key to the East-West trade corridor that has attracted billions of dollars of investment over the past few years and media reported that this issue was also among the issues that they discussed. The trip to Baku was a relatively rare overseas trip for Mr Berdymukhamedov, although he has shown more interest in developing foreign ties to expand Turkmenistan’s gas trade routes.

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— This story was first published in issue 440 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Turkmen diesel fuel reaches Russia, again

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DEC. 25 2019 (The Bulletin) — Diesel fuel produced by Turkmenistan was delivered to the Russian Caspian Sea port of Makhachkala for the first time since 2014, media reported. The consignment of 6,000 tonnes of fuel, which was unloaded and sent to customers via Russia’s railway network, is expected to be the start of a steady flow of diesel to Russia from Turkmenistan. Officials said that shipments were stopped in 2014 because of “technical” difficulties.

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— This story was first published in issue 433 of the weekly Bulletin on Jan. 13 2020

— Copyright owned by the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

New action movie targets dictator in ‘Turgistan’

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DEC. 13 2019 (The Bulletin) — Netflix released a new action film about the overthrow of a dictator from a fictional country called Turgistan, a fantasy land that appears to be based on Turkmenistan.

In the movie ‘6 Underground’, a US tech billionaire launches a privately-funded mission to overthrow Rovach Alimov, president of Turgistan. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said that as well as the name, scenes and language used by people in the film make it appear set in Turkmenistan. Central Asia has already featured a handful of times in spoof television programmes and films.

The 2006 film featuring fictional Kazakh reporter Borat caused Kazakhstan’s government years of grief and in 2013 the made-up state of Tazbekistan was the focus of a BBC comedy called ‘Ambassadors’.

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— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Jailed former minister paraded on TV

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DEC. 4 2019 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s state TV showed footage of former interior minister Isgender Mulikov wearing a prison uniform and with his head shaved less than two months after he admitted corruption. Mulikov had been interior minister for a decade when he was arrested and charged with corruption. Analysts have said that parading former ministers on TV as criminals is a ploy by Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to shift attention away from Turkmenistan’s faltering economy.
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— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Italian company signs deal to give Turkmenistan technical support on gas pipeline

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DEC. 5 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s national oil and gas company Turkmengas signed a deal worth around $13m, with Italy’s RINA to provide technical support for the construction of a planned gas pipeline that will run 214km across the country. Italy has been courting Turkmenistan for projects and, last month, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov made a rare visit to the EU to meet with Italian leaders.
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— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Vitol will start exporting Turkmen diesal fuel this month

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DEC. 2 (The Bulletin) — Switzerland-based Vitol, the world’s biggest oil trader, will start exporting fuel and diesel from Turkmenistan this month, Reuters reported by quoting five unnamed traders. They said that Vitol had outbid Azerbaijan’s Socar for the contracts and that the oil products would be loaded onto ships at the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi, then offloaded at Makhachkala in Russia before being sent by rail to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Vitol already exports oil products from Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan wants to increase oil product exports.
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— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Turkmenistan Airlines resumes flights to Europe

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DEC. 7 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan Airlines flew its first flight to Europe after a 10-month ban for failing safety standards. Most of Turkmenistan Airlines’ routes have been designed to connect Europe and Asia via Ashgabat. Two of the most popular of these had been from London Heathrow and Birmingham to Amristar in northern India. After it failed the European Safety Aviation’s test, Turkmenistan Airlines had hired Germany’s Lufthansa as a consultant to reapply for a licence to use European airspace.
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— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Turkmenistan hosts first foreign opera for 19 years

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NOV. 26 (The Bulletin) — To a packed audience in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan staged its first foreign opera for nearly 19 years. Foreign operas were banned by former Turkmen leader Sapurmurat Niyazov in 2001 in order to protect Turkmen culture. This ban has only just been lifted by current Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov who has been president since 2007.
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— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.